Chisag's Tip Of The Day #38

[chisag]

Stop 3 Putting!

I played last week with two ASU students, relatively new to the game and both were abysmal with their putting. I see this far too often from many poor putters. Lack of distance control. Being able to correctly read the line and/or hitting putts on a correct line doesn't do much good if you don't have accurate distance control. 

I give this advice often to those struggling on the green. Ignore the line and put 100% of your focus on speed. Obviously you want to get the line right for your putt from any distance and certainly for a makable putt. But since you see that line, you can ignore it because it is in your brain and calculated like walking down a rocky path and looking ahead for your next step. You don't watch each of your feet as they are placed on the ground because you are looking ahead at your next step and your brain tells your feet where to step without looking because it already has that info. 

I see so many agonizing over placing their ball with an alignment aid, looking from behind and realigning every so slightly. Then miss the putt coming up short or running it way by the hole because they are so focused on the alignment. I cannot stress this strongly enough, once you have looked at that line and decided what you think it is, ONLY concentrate on the right speed to get the ball to the hole for a die putter and 12-18" past for an aggressive putter. 

Some are naturally gifted with great spacial awareness and speed control comes easy for them. Others have to work at it but with practice it can become a strength.  So if speed control isn't a strength of your putting, dedicate yourself to making it one. Go to a practice green and just hit putts from one spot to multiple pins (if the green isn't crowded) and only concentrate on speed. I would recommend playing more break when you get your initial casual read because you always want you ball breaking to the hole and not away from the hole but again just take a quick look and then forget the line with 100% of your focus on speed. 

I had more than a few students back when I was teaching find using speed control only was an eye opener for them. The brain can only concentrate on one thing at a time so it must rapidly go back and forth between line and speed if you are trying to think of both. By allowing your brain to take in the line, it won't forget it even when you ignore it. So it knows the line while you actively concentrate 100% on speed. 

Put in the work and enjoy the process. Positive thinking is paramount for good putting and good speed control so look at the putt and envision you will get it close or even hole it! If it is far short or long, adjust with the next one and begin honing that skill. The last thing you should do is look at a difficult putt and think or say "I'll probably 3 putt" because you are telling your brain to do just that. Think about holing every putt and if course you win't but with good seed control you will leave yourself a tap in. 

Putting is the strength of my game and I get more compliments on my putting than all other parts of my game combined. I very rarely 3 putt and I get the line wrong plenty of times, but I rarely get the speed wrong. There are days when it seems like nothing is falling and other where everything falls but my speed control is constant. I LOVE putting and that can make all the difference. So put in the practice and if you learn to enjoy putting and take pride in your speed control, your scorecard will thank you! 

 

[cnosil]

 

25 minutes ago, chisag said:

Ignore the line and put 100% of your focus on speed.

 

 

I agree speed is critical,  but what people Don’t understand  is how to control speed.  Saying work on speed is great but people need to build the skills associated with speed control and being able to successfully roll the ball specific distances. 

[chisag]

13 minutes ago, cnosil said:

I agree speed is critical,  but what people Don’t understand  is how to control speed.  Saying work on speed is great but people need to build the skills associated with speed control and being able to successfully roll the ball specific distances. 

 

... I completely agree and precisely why I said go to a practice green and learn to control their speed hitting to different pins from one location. Again, some will find it easier and some will find it very difficult. You and I tend to go back and forth on this but I usually find that feel players are better with speed, especially from longer distances. I believe lag putting is all feel and there is no formula that can take into consideration uphill, downhill, sidehill, fast and slow greens or even wind with Bermuda grain. You need to just hit a bunch of putts over and over again and get a feel for distance under different conditions. Practice, practice, practice. 

[KC Golf]

16 minutes ago, chisag said:

 

... I completely agree and precisely why I said go to a practice green and learn to control their speed hitting to different pins from one location. Again, some will find it easier and some will find it very difficult. You and I tend to go back and forth on this but I usually find that feel players are better with speed, especially from longer distances. I believe lag putting is all feel and there is no formula that can take into consideration uphill, downhill, sidehill, fast and slow greens or even wind with Bermuda grain. You need to just hit a bunch of putts over and over again and get a feel for distance under different conditions. Practice, practice, practice. 

I find some of the best lag putters just focus on looking at the hole for a while and use their experience and feel to get the putt to a specific spot (both line and speed).  

I find it quite intriguing that good tour putters can look at just a green book and can putt without actually looking at the putt from ball level during practice,  Then they write notes.  It shows they have practiced so much it’s automatic for them.  Lydia Ko is an example of this type of practice round work.

[cnosil]

3 hours ago, chisag said:

 

... I completely agree and precisely why I said go to a practice green and learn to control their speed hitting to different pins from one location. Again, some will find it easier and some will find it very difficult. You and I tend to go back and forth on this but I usually find that feel players are better with speed, especially from longer distances. I believe lag putting is all feel and there is no formula that can take into consideration uphill, downhill, sidehill, fast and slow greens or even wind with Bermuda grain. You need to just hit a bunch of putts over and over again and get a feel for distance under different conditions. Practice, practice, practice. 

I won't go into the fact that physic provides formulas for doing those calculations and essentially your mind is doing those types of calculations to give you the "feel"   

My point was that the speed advice is always you need to practice.....do ladder drills, putt to the edge of the green, etc.   Those are fine,  but IMO what's missing is instruction on the stroke skills necessary to build those feels.    You have mentioned that the brain tells your body what do which I agree with.   However, you still have to do things like have a consistent rhythm and tempo in your stroke practice session after practice session to get good a distance control. You have to teach the body how it needs to move.   I see it kind of like the full swing;  while some can do it,  you generally can't tell someone go practice and you'll learn to hit the golf ball.   

[chisag]

2 hours ago, cnosil said:

I won't go into the fact that physic provides formulas for doing those calculations and essentially your mind is doing those types of calculations to give you the "feel"   

My point was that the speed advice is always you need to practice.....do ladder drills, putt to the edge of the green, etc.   Those are fine,  but IMO what's missing is instruction on the stroke skills necessary to build those feels.    You have mentioned that the brain tells your body what do which I agree with.   However, you still have to do things like have a consistent rhythm and tempo in your stroke practice session after practice session to get good a distance control. You have to teach the body how it needs to move.   I see it kind of like the full swing;  while some can do it,  you generally can't tell someone go practice and you'll learn to hit the golf ball.   

 

... You're telling this to someone that taught for 5 years?   While I disagree with comparing it to the flu swing, I think putting is different from the rest of the game and I think anyone can learn to be a good putter with a unique to them putting stroke. I understand it isn't as easy as just concentrate on your speed and you will be a good putter. I thought having a repeatable stroke is stating the obvious. Things like moving your body with the putter head or lifting your head to look at your putt and of course the mutha of all putting ill's ... flipping your wrist causing very poor distance control as well as hitting your putt off line. 

... All that said, I honestly think it is so much easier than most make it out to be. If you have never played Corn Hole and someone gave you a bean bag and told you to loft it toward that hole in the board, I don't think they would need instruction. Some with an athletic background may be better than others of course but I don't think anybody needs Corn Hole lessons. As much as the brain is capable of interpreting your positive want and need to hole a putt, it is also capable of processing the constant negative instructions it is given or worse, a ton of contradictory instructions "keep my head down, straight back straight through, don't leave it short but don't go long, use my hands, use my arms, use my shoulders, I need a par here, this is for birdie so I better not blow it" and that list goes on and on. But if I ask you to take a golf ball and toss it underhand toward a hole 15 feet away, most could do it with no instructions. And if they did it 100 times I expect they would start tossing some balls in the hole. 

... And like anything in sports, the more you do it the better you get. If you are constantly changing your grip style or changing types of putters with different weights and a different balance you basically have to start over again every time. But most don't put in the practice. Just go to any course with free range balls before the round and watch how many shots they hit and how many putts they hit. More than a few hit zero putts and very few hit 20 or more. 

... And finally we are back to right brain left brain. I realize my subconscious is making all those calculations and that allows me to just go purely by feel with a complete absence of thought. But if I tried to actively make those calculations I think my head would implode. I was thinking of this today when I had a 45 foot putt with about 6 feet of break that was slightly uphill then slightly downhill the last 1/3rd of the way. I just looked at the putt with zero thoughts, allowed my subconscious to make the calculations then tried to hole it and missed by about 6 inches on the high side. I honestly thought I wish cnosil was here.  
 

[Shapotomous]

I think those with a natural ability for something like @chisag has for putting may find it difficult to understand the disconnect in some people between their brain and muscle control.  I have seen some aaawwwwful corn hole players that cannot figure out a way to hit the board let alone get it in the hole no matter how much they practice.     I often thought they would be awful putters because the way I taught newbies on the HS golf team to get a feel for distance control is to toss a few balls to the cup and transfer the effort needed to a putting stroke.

There are definitely things that can be taught to help with distance control.  Some things are "obvious" to some but invisible to others.  In addition to what was mentioned, grip pressure, posture, hand position and more all play into a better feel and even a more repeatable stroke.  Even people that play frequently may not realize some small adjustment will yield better results for them.  I agree practice, practice practice is the way to get better.  But it should be proper, consistent practice not just hit a bunch of balls practice.  Maybe this is "obvious" to some but certainly not to others.

I'll also add videoing yourself putting while practicing is extremely helpful.  If you are working on something you can see if reality matches your feel and adjust as necessary.  When testing the Ping Heppler putter for MGS a few years ago my putting improved in large part due to the practice and video analysis I was doing as part of the test.  The Heppler putter helped quite a bit also as comparisons to my previous model proved, but adjustments i made to my stroke improved performance with the old gamer as well.

[cnosil]

11 hours ago, chisag said:

 

I thought having a repeatable stroke is stating the obvious. Things like moving your body with the putter head or lifting your head to look at your putt and of course the mutha of all putting ill's ... flipping your wrist causing very poor distance control as well as hitting your putt off line. 

If you are constantly changing your grip style or changing types of putters with different weights and a different balance you basically have to start over again every time.
 

The first paragraph I quoted is why I have said teaching stroke to beginners is an important thing to do.  If stroke basics aren’t in place then getting better speed control  is difficult.   Rolling 100 6 foot putts will have some benefit but in the grand scheme will not provide significant benefit on the course. 100% agree that to get better at putting you need to focus on speed control.  Putting instruction is definitely lacking and I believe there is lots of instruction that really isn’t instructional as it lacks the how and why aspect.  It is more of a stand like this, eyes over ball or slightly inside, make a stroke…..good now go practice   The poor/lacking stroke fundamentals make the other aspects impossible   

you mentioned telling a person to roll the ball underhand to a 15 foot hole which is providing technique instruction.  I would bet that if you didn’t provide the “underhand” instruction some would toss it underhand and some overhand.  This would really reveal itself If you started at 5 feet and then kept moving back  5 feet;  I’d bet that a significant percentage would switch to overhand at some point.   Basically changing technique (stroke) which will Impact how to do distance control.  
 

the more I have played with putters the more I have come to understand/believe/realize that the putter isn’t as significant as you indicate; no reason to start over.  Putters can provide fine tuning for aim, face control, and distance but in the grand scheme it is just a piece of metal (yes it can be made of other things) on the end of a shaft. Also,   you’d probably be supposed at how much intuition I use in my putting game , my problem is trusting it 

[chisag]

1 hour ago, cnosil said:

the more I have played with putters the more I have come to understand/believe/realize that the putter isn’t as significant as you indicate; no reason to start over.  Putters can provide fine tuning for aim, face control, and distance but in the grand scheme it is just a piece of metal (yes it can be made of other things) on the end of a shaft. Also,   you’d probably be supposed at how much intuition I use in my putting game , my problem is trusting it 

 

... Well we have almost derailed this Speed topic. Again. I typed out a long response but deleted it because we are covering the same ole stuff and just have radically different opinions. I gave an extra FREE short game full lesson focusing on putting with every 5 package lesson plan. Word got out that I was a big help for poor putters and it brought me many new students. I learned a lot from them too. 

... I believe you change putters often and that makes a big difference as well as assuming you have a mechanical stroke. I believe the easiest and by far the most effective way to putt is with a very loose grip and a true pendulum stroke allowing the weight and balance of the putter to dictate the swing. Agreeing with Stan Utely, I believe the putting stroke is just a mini swing moving inside on the way back, then back to square at impact and back inside on the follow through because it is very natural movement with no manipulation. If I make 5,000 strokes with a putter using that method I have a feel for the weight and balance. If I switch to a different putter that has a different weight and balance that true pendulum will be different. I would have to start over learning the feel for the weight and balance. 

... But as easy and intuitive as a true pendulum is it requires a lot of trust and very good feel. Some are just not capable of holding a putter loosely and they lose control of the head and path. I had no problem with them holding the putter much more firmly and taking more of a straight back straight through stroke in a mechanical fashion if that is more successful for their physical and mental approach. And I completely disagree that style of putter doesn't make a difference for anyone with good feel. I can putt reasonably well with a center shafted putter but it takes a LOT of work because without toe weighting and a heel shaft, the head wanders outside the path on my backswing and does not naturally flow along a gated path. 
 

[chisag]

4 hours ago, Shapotomous said:

I think those with a natural ability for something like @chisag has for putting may find it difficult to understand the disconnect in some people between their brain and muscle control.  I have seen some aaawwwwful corn hole players that cannot figure out a way to hit the board let alone get it in the hole no matter how much they practice.    

 

... Execution and Results are strange bedfellows. As much as some disagree, golf is an athletic endeavor, especially at a higher level. No doubt those with natural spatial awareness and excellent hand eye coordination have a huge advantage over those without those gifts. Of course the gifts just put you in a better position to accomplish your goal, but it still takes repetition and practice. And as I said in my reply to cnosil, I gave a free short game focusing on putting lesson with a paid 5 lesson plan. When I very first started teaching it was a real eye opener seeing the difference between a natural athlete that played other sports and those that did not. Some very easy fundamentals for an athlete were extremely difficult for those without natural ability and a sports background. So I do understand the difficulty and disconnect. 

... One of the absolute foundation rocks of any sport is trusting the process and not the result. I can only trust my six foot eagle putt will break the 6 inches I have read and then execute a smooth stroke just like I have thousands of times. The ball will fall in the hole or it won't. I can't make it go in the hole because I want it to very badly so all my focus is on the ball going in the hole and I lost any focus on the actual stroke. That is the thing I learned from students. When a non athlete thought they needed to flip their right hand it was insanely difficult to break them of that habit. I could stand there literally holding their wrists while they putted keeping the triangle of shoulder arms hands intact with no wrist movement and have them execute some accurate putts but as soon as I took my hands off them they went right back to flipping. Same thing with looking up and moving their bodies to see their ball hopefully rolling into the hole, which it rarely did. It is soooooooo easy to not move your body and I had drills to help the do just that. But move to a different hole, give them a 6 foot putt and tell them "OK, now you have only one chance to hole this putt so you better make it" and watch them revert back to looking up under that pressure. 

... So yea, I understand something as easy as just moving a putter back and forth can get very difficult for someone with a mental disconnect between execution and results. Like most every sport I played the "secret" is not caring about the results. We all want the same result but in the end the result is the reward for proper execution, but I do understand some are just incapable of understanding and accomplishing that.  

[cnosil]

16 minutes ago, chisag said:

 

... Execution and Results are strange bedfellows. As much as some disagree, golf is an athletic endeavor, especially at a higher level. No doubt those with natural spatial awareness and excellent hand eye coordination have a huge advantage over those without those gifts. Of course the gifts just put you in a better position to accomplish your goal, but it still takes repetition and practice. And as I said in my reply to cnosil, I gave a free short game focusing on putting lesson with a paid 5 lesson plan. When I very first started teaching it was a real eye opener seeing the difference between a natural athlete that played other sports and those that did not. Some very easy fundamentals for an athlete were extremely difficult for those without natural ability and a sports background. So I do understand the difficulty and disconnect. 

... One of the absolute foundation rocks of any sport is trusting the process and not the result. I can only trust my six foot eagle putt will break the 6 inches I have read and then execute a smooth stroke just like I have thousands of times. The ball will fall in the hole or it won't. I can't make it go in the hole because I want it to very badly so all my focus is on the ball going in the hole and I lost any focus on the actual stroke. That is the thing I learned from students. When a non athlete thought they needed to flip their right hand it was insanely difficult to break them of that habit. I could stand there literally holding their wrists while they putted keeping the triangle of shoulder arms hands intact with no wrist movement and have them execute some accurate putts but as soon as I took my hands off them they went right back to flipping. Same thing with looking up and moving their bodies to see their ball hopefully rolling into the hole, which it rarely did. It is soooooooo easy to not move your body and I had drills to help the do just that. But move to a different hole, give them a 6 foot putt and tell them "OK, now you have only one chance to hole this putt so you better make it" and watch them revert back to looking up under that pressure. 

... So yea, I understand something as easy as just moving a putter back and forth can get very difficult for someone with a mental disconnect between execution and results. Like most every sport I played the "secret" is not caring about the results. We all want the same result but in the end the result is the reward for proper execution, but I do understand some are just incapable of understanding and accomplishing that.  

You just posted what I have been trying to communicate with my comments . 

[JohnSmalls]

I cannot wait for the @cnosil x @chisag putting clinic!

[cnosil]

21 minutes ago, JohnSmalls said:

I cannot wait for the @cnosil x @chisag putting clinic!

I am taking the lesson from @chisag  I need him to teach me to trust that my instinct on that 40+ footer is correct.  I am doing what he says above, but still leave them short. 

Edited August 29 by cnosil

[JohnSmalls]

4 minutes ago, cnosil said:

I am taking the lesson from @chisag  I need him to teach me to trust my instinct on that 40 footer is correct.  I am doing what he says above, but still leave them short. 

Have you tried talking to your golf ball?  

[cnosil]

4 minutes ago, JohnSmalls said:

Have you tried talking to your golf ball?  

It started out as talking and encouraging the ball to get to the hole; it has progressed to yelling and cursing.    

[chisag]

25 minutes ago, cnosil said:

I am taking the lesson from @chisag  I need him to teach me to trust that my instinct on that 40+ footer is correct.  I am doing what he says above, but still leave them short. 

 

... I wish I could teach it. I was always fascinated with spacial awareness and probably why I started playing QB in the 2nd grade. I loved tossing newspapers on the porch flying down the sidewalk at full speed on my bike, having to throw forward or backwards and over a bush or under a limb on the move because of something blocking my path. 

[chisag]

... On 2nd thought @cnosil, here is the one thing I would suggest you try. Set up a long putt around 30 or 40 feet on the practice green. Just take a quick look when you have addressed the ball without finding the line and then close your eyes and putt. Then open your eyes on the next putt. Then close them again alternating between the two. It is difficult to be mechanical with your eyes closed and will engage your subconscious. It is a great way to develop feel. 

[cnosil]

13 minutes ago, chisag said:

... On 2nd thought @cnosil, here is the one thing I would suggest you try. Set up a long putt around 30 or 40 feet on the practice green. Just take a quick look when you have addressed the ball without finding the line and then close your eyes and putt. Then open your eyes on the next putt. Then close them again alternating between the two. It is difficult to be mechanical with your eyes closed and will engage your subconscious. It is a great way to develop feel. 

I am less mechanical than you think and have probably become less mechanical than I was in the past.  As you are advocating in this thread, I pick a line that I think is right and then setup and shift focus to only speed…similar to how hard to make the underhand toss.  I feel like I do pretty well on the practice green.  On the course it is hit and miss; the good ones stop right around the hole and the others; where I am guessing I don’t commit to the stroke length I’ve made, I’ll leave 6 feet short.   I’ll give your suggestion a try.  

Edited August 29 by cnosil

[TJ Hall]

3 hours ago, cnosil said:

It started out as talking and encouraging the ball to get to the hole; it has progressed to yelling and cursing.    

Have you tried hitting it harder?

[cnosil]

17 minutes ago, TJ Hall said:

Have you tried hitting it harder?

My brain gets in the way and prevents it from happening.  At least that is what I think my brain is telling me it is doing. 

[chisag]

3 minutes ago, cnosil said:

My brain gets in the way and prevents it from happening.  At least that is what I think my brain is telling me it is doing. 

 

... Chisag's Right Brain putting:
 

 

 

... cnosil's Left Brain putting:

 

 

[cksurfdude]

On 8/28/2024 at 10:24 PM, chisag said:

comparing it to the flu swing

Oh so you have seen my, haha, sick (as in unhealthy not cool like the cool kids mean) swing

But back on topic I am totally 100% in on the principle that the first putt is all about getting the proper speed.

I'd rather leave the ball 2 or 3 feet on any side of the hole, vs way short or way long on the "right" line.

But.. how to develop that skill???

Practice obviously. But, imho, the best / most efficient way to practice may vary from individual to individual. Like their putting stroke, no one size fits all.

But otoh I also believe a golfer cannot achieve consistent distance control without a consistent putting stroke .. which doesn't have to be textbook perfect but the two definitely work hand in hand.

[chisag]

@cnosil "That was one of several models he taught that he thought he did,  I think his is now teaching Straight Back Straight Through On-Plane.   

My biggest problem is I have a tendency to turn the shoulders open a little instead of moving them on a vertical plane."


... I moved this here as the Good Morning thread probably isn't the best place for this discussion. I think this is one of the many difficulties of teaching and or learning a putting stroke. I really hate saying this, but I actually swing my putter straight back and straight thru and on plane.   But the relationship between my hands/arms and putter face never changes. Because I am holding my putter shaft at an angle it moves inside the target line on the way back, returns to square at impact and back inside on the flollow through.  I actively do none of that and just swing it back and swing it forward, gently holding the grip and allowing the weight and balance of the putter to control the swinging of my pendulum. I do NOT rotate the face open and close and I do NOT hold the face square to the target line because both of those movements would involve manipulation.

... The not so secret to my stroke is no manipulation of any kind and it is sooooo simple. Just swing it back and swing it forward. Because my shoulders are the base of my pyramid, they do follow my hands but that triangle never changes. If your shoulders are turning, you are actively moving them and not allowing your arms to move them while maintaining your spine angle. I know some find success putting by "rocking their shoulders" but if you are gonna toss a ball underhanded to a cup 10 feet away would you actively use your shoulders to toss the ball? Or would your shoulders support the swinging of your arms and hands as you toss the ball? You can toss the ball with decent accuracy locking your shoulders in place without moving them at all  just using your arms and hands but you won't have much success locking your hands/wrists/arms in place and throwing the ball with your shoulders. Something to think about. 

 

 

[cnosil]

7 minutes ago, chisag said:

@cnosil "That was one of several models he taught that he thought he did,  I think his is now teaching Straight Back Straight Through On-Plane.   

My biggest problem is I have a tendency to turn the shoulders open a little instead of moving them on a vertical plane."


... I moved this here as the Good Morning thread probably isn't the best place for this discussion. I think this is one of the many difficulties of teaching and or learning a putting stroke. I really hate saying this, but I actually swing my putter straight back and straight thru and on plane.   But the relationship between my hands/arms and putter face never changes. Because I am holding my putter shaft at an angle it moves inside the target line on the way back, returns to square at impact and back inside on the flollow through.  I actively do none of that and just swing it back and swing it forward, gently holding the grip and allowing the weight and balance of the putter to control the swinging of my pendulum. I do NOT rotate the face open and close and I do NOT hold the face square to the target line because both of those movements would involve manipulation.

... The not so secret to my stroke is no manipulation of any kind and it is sooooo simple. Just swing it back and swing it forward. Because my shoulders are the base of my pyramid, they do follow my hands but that triangle never changes. If your shoulders are turning, you are actively moving them and not allowing your arms to move them while maintaining your spine angle. I know some find success putting by "rocking their shoulders" but if you are gonna toss a ball underhanded to a cup 10 feet away would you actively use your shoulders to toss the ball? Or would your shoulders support the swinging of your arms and hands as you toss the ball? You can toss the ball with decent accuracy locking your shoulders in place without moving them at all  just using your arms and hands but you won't have much success locking your hands/wrists/arms in place and throwing the ball with your shoulders. Something to think about. 

 

 

 

What you describe is what I try to do; my stroke bias goes a little left and occasionally my shoulders get a little open.  The intent is to just move the hands back and through with no manipulation but like you also said we are not robots and that is why I work on fine tuning technique and why I do post putt analysis to make sure I am doing things correctly.  

[chisag]

1 minute ago, cnosil said:

What you describe is what I try to do; my stroke bias goes a little left and occasionally my shoulders get a little open.  The intent is to just move the hands back and through with no manipulation but like you also said we are not robots and that is why I work on fine tuning technique and why I do post putt analysis to make sure I am doing things correctly.  

 

... If you don't do something like this already (and you probably do) I suggest you get something cheap like the Putt Out practice aid. Of course a coffee cup or upside down glass would work too. Then just putt over and over again at home with all your focus on making the exact same stroke. I like to use 3 balls about 2 feet apart so my target changes but just putting from one spot works too. I use mine everyday, more out of boredom than practice   but I might do it during commercials or sometimes just when I walk by it. I keep my putter next to my Lazy Boy at all times. 





 

[cnosil]

1 minute ago, chisag said:

 

... If you don't do something like this already (and you probably do) I suggest you get something cheap like the Putt Out practice aid. Of course a coffee cup or upside down glass would work too. 
 

 

I hate the putt-out.   I will putt into an empty ball sleeve or just try to hit the ball I previously putted squarely and make a straight line of balls.  

[chisag]

4 minutes ago, cnosil said:

 

I hate the putt-out.   I will putt into an empty ball sleeve or just try to hit the ball I previously putted squarely and make a straight line of balls.  

 

... Why do you hate the Putt Out? I just like it because it returns the ball to me but like you said, anything as a target works. I like hitting to balls too and I play "snooker" with 3 balls sometimes and try and hit one ball into another which takes a much more precise strike. Anything to keep practice interesting and fun. 

[cnosil]

10 minutes ago, chisag said:

 

... Why do you hate the Putt Out? I just like it because it returns the ball to me but like you said, anything as a target works. I like hitting to balls too and I play "snooker" with 3 balls sometimes and try and hit one ball into another which takes a much more precise strike. Anything to keep practice interesting and fun. 

Because it is fundamentally just a target and I didn't feel like it accurately represented lipped putts or distance past the hole.  I never got it to return the ball all the way to me so I could only use one ball and had to go fetch it each time.  

[chisag]

.. Gotcha. I picked one up for the return feature as it was on sale for $19.99 and I had a $20 reward that was expiring. Only putting aid I ever "bought" and it was basically free. 

[TAGolf13]

On 8/28/2024 at 2:48 PM, chisag said:

Stop 3 Putting!

I played last week with two ASU students, relatively new to the game and both were abysmal with their putting. I see this far too often from many poor putters. Lack of distance control. Being able to correctly read the line and/or hitting putts on a correct line doesn't do much good if you don't have accurate distance control. 

I give this advice often to those struggling on the green. Ignore the line and put 100% of your focus on speed. Obviously you want to get the line right for your putt from any distance and certainly for a makable putt. But since you see that line, you can ignore it because it is in your brain and calculated like walking down a rocky path and looking ahead for your next step. You don't watch each of your feet as they are placed on the ground because you are looking ahead at your next step and your brain tells your feet where to step without looking because it already has that info. 

I see so many agonizing over placing their ball with an alignment aid, looking from behind and realigning every so slightly. Then miss the putt coming up short or running it way by the hole because they are so focused on the alignment. I cannot stress this strongly enough, once you have looked at that line and decided what you think it is, ONLY concentrate on the right speed to get the ball to the hole for a die putter and 12-18" past for an aggressive putter. 

Some are naturally gifted with great spacial awareness and speed control comes easy for them. Others have to work at it but with practice it can become a strength.  So if speed control isn't a strength of your putting, dedicate yourself to making it one. Go to a practice green and just hit putts from one spot to multiple pins (if the green isn't crowded) and only concentrate on speed. I would recommend playing more break when you get your initial casual read because you always want you ball breaking to the hole and not away from the hole but again just take a quick look and then forget the line with 100% of your focus on speed. 

I had more than a few students back when I was teaching find using speed control only was an eye opener for them. The brain can only concentrate on one thing at a time so it must rapidly go back and forth between line and speed if you are trying to think of both. By allowing your brain to take in the line, it won't forget it even when you ignore it. So it knows the line while you actively concentrate 100% on speed. 

Put in the work and enjoy the process. Positive thinking is paramount for good putting and good speed control so look at the putt and envision you will get it close or even hole it! If it is far short or long, adjust with the next one and begin honing that skill. The last thing you should do is look at a difficult putt and think or say "I'll probably 3 putt" because you are telling your brain to do just that. Think about holing every putt and if course you win't but with good seed control you will leave yourself a tap in. 

Putting is the strength of my game and I get more compliments on my putting than all other parts of my game combined. I very rarely 3 putt and I get the line wrong plenty of times, but I rarely get the speed wrong. There are days when it seems like nothing is falling and other where everything falls but my speed control is constant. I LOVE putting and that can make all the difference. So put in the practice and if you learn to enjoy putting and take pride in your speed control, your scorecard will thank you! 

 

Any tips on bringing your putting green game to the gaming green? That seems to be my issue right now. I'm getting the speed right most of the time on the pratice green, but not so much when I'm playing.